dave in the shack

  Open Table Church got a late start on its once-a-month Sunday dinner and Monday breakfast project at the Ottawa PADS shelter.  Illinois...

I visited June’s school before she finished her first year at the end of May.  June is my four-year-old granddaughter. Although June would c...

  For Antonio, long a friend of our son and our family, April 23, 2025, was not a normal day. He was scheduled to appear in federal court at...

   A friend who shares original poems with me wrote about a pork butt, in free verse, which prompted me to ask him if he makes pulled pork...

 I figured it would end, imagined it happening, but not like this.  The Chicago Tribune no longer appears on my driveway every day of the we...

  I Care - Panimatzalan, Guatemala 2025 The hour-long van ride to Panimatzalam, the first of I Care International’s two clinic sites in Gu...

I've been writing for the local paper these past six months.  When I do that I write shorter pieces to keep within their word limit and ...